sereell



JOHN il. SER-HELL, F HUDSQN COUNTY, NEW'v JERSEY.

Letters Patent No. 61,380, dtd/:rl February 5, 1.867.

IMPRVBMENT IN APPARATUS FOR GOLLECTING FLOATING OIL.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONGERN:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. SERILELL, of Hudson county, New Jersey, have invented and made a certain new and useful Improvement in skimming Oil, &c., from the surface of streams, ponds, and other bodies oi' Water; and I do hereby declare the following to he a full, clear, and exact description of' the su-id invention` reference being had to the annexed drawing, 'making part of this spcciiication, wherein- Figure 1 is a plan of my apparatus.

Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same; and

Figure 3 represents a modification of my improvement.

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

In sections of country where petroleum is found, there is more or less oil or oily substances iloating upon the surface'of the rivers, streams, ponds, or lakes.

The object of my invention is to collect and utilize this otherwise waste oil or oily substance, and for this purpose there has to be a motion of the apparatus through thc unter hy artificial means, or a natural'ilow of the Water towards the apparatus, in order that the surface thereof muy he sl i1nmed, ztnd the said oil or oily suhstanees collected, as hereafter set forth.

In the drawing, a represents a vessel, ot any desired size or character, that is to be moored or anchored in a stream. b is a trough, the front edge ot-nhich is slightly below the unter, u'hilc the buck edge rises above the Water; the said trough is sustained by suitable means. l have represented outriggors or beams, c c, that arr` supports for this trough, and the connections from these out-riggcrs to the trough may be adjusted so as to raise and lower this trough, in order that the front edge-in remain slightly below the surface of the water. From the ends of this trough floating spurs or arms, d d, extend and diverge any desired distance, and these arms should bc jointed to the trough, in order that they muy be drawn towards each other when required, so as to occupy no more space than the Width of the vessel; and the device for drawing the hoonxs or iloating arms d l? together :hay be of any desired character; I, however, have shown ropes passing from the vessel a through blocks et the end of the out-i'iggers e e. These urius are to he drawn together when necessary to prevent thcui obstructing navigation, or to allen the passage of any floating article.- The inner sides of these arms i may be formed with troughs, as seen in fig. 4, that can be raised or lowered on the side of the arm, so that the lower side ofthe trough is slightly below the surface of' the water, the object being to cause a current through these troughs to the main skimming vtrough b, so as to convey the oily materiel from the surface of the water to the said trough l, together with the strata of Water that are received over the edge of said. trough. The water und oily substances are removed from said trough by uuy suitable means. l., however, prefer and use a rotary pump, e, actuated by competent power. 4This pump draws the oil and Water from the trough 'In by the pipo and produces suiiicient agitation to cominingle the oil and water i'cr the better separation from the oil of any chips, dirt, or other foreign matter that may float with the oil, und the water and oil are delivered by the pipe o into a suitable vessel below the surface of the liquid therein, in order that the oil only may float and seperate 'from the water, while the impurities remain below und pass exray with the water. The tank or vat into which the oily material is received may be of any usual kind. 'l have si* fwn a vut, j, formed in the sessel itself without any bottoni, so that the water may pass away und the oil he retained.

The apparatus I have described is'adaptcd to being auchcnod or moored in a stream or current of Water, or attached to thc shore in a current that will convey the floating; oily material to the apparatus, but in cases where there is no current, or where it is desired to more the vessel und skimmingl apparatus over the surface of' rivers or creeks to collect the ilouting oil, the vessel itself muy he propelled by n screw, stern, er sidewrhcel, or other device, so :is to nieve over the water land collect the ilo. L ig oily material.' Fig. i5 represents a modicntion of the aforcsefid apparatus, in which the water is passed directly into the tank or vat by the action of sidcskimming arms, (l cl, that cause all the oil und water taken in from the surface to pues' into the said tankf through openings et x .'r'in the sides of the vessel, extending above and below the water liuc, and ut which openings the aforesaid nrms are vhinged or attached. The oil from the sui-thee of this first vat may be pumped into a second vat, so as to prevent too great depth of oil accumulating` in the irst rat. This apparatus, shown in iig. 3, may be anchored stationary in the current of nriver or stream, or may be propelled on the unter to gather up the floating oily material. i

susa 2 Whitt I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Potent, is-

1. The combination of a Heating vessel, containing n. tank for the reception of oil, with nn arm or arms placed diagonally to the motion of or through the witter, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. I claim combining, with an oil-collecting apparatus, a movable boom or arm, fitted substantially as specified, so as to be drawn or extended, substantially :is and for the purposes set forth.

3. In combination with :in apparatus for collecting surface oil, substantially :is herein described, I claim a pump for producing a. violent agitation 'of the oil and water for tho purpose of removing the oil from foreign substances, as set' forth.

4. In combination with an oil-collecting apparatus, substantially as set forth, I claim o. vat and pipe. in which the pipe opens below the surface of the oil, so that the impurities will be separated, as set forth.

JOHN J. SERRELL. Witnesses:

LEMUEL W. SEnnnLL, Cms. H. SMITH. 

